It’s The Man of Steel vs. The Knight of Dark in the most anticipated “Summer Blockbuster Released in the Spring” of all-time. “Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice” definitely has a nice ring to it and a star-studded cast that rivals Marvel’s “Avengers”. Problem is – there’s just nothing special about this film.
Nearly the first two-thirds of “BVS” are devoted to establishing the rivalry and building-up the anger between our two DC superheroes before their inevitable showdown. There’s just so much of this – dialogue, flashbacks, “he said-he said” – OK – you don’t like each other – let’s get it on! But no, we need more set-up. The only scene during this entire time that actually works takes place inside the Capitol Building – and Batman’s not even there!
Ben Affleck’s beefed-up Caped Crusader (the Bat Signal is noticeably plus-size) doesn’t come with much personality. He’s always got that stone-cold, kinda dopey Ben Affleck expression on his face. Henry Cavill’s second go-around as Clark Kent feels as stiff as the first. Amy Adams (nearly 10 years older than Cavill) slightly phone-booths it in this time as Lois Lane. Jesse Eisenberg tries to emulate Heath Ledger’s Joker in his manic take on the evil Lex Luthor and the results are more embarrassing than menacing.
But the biggest reason why “BVS“ doesn’t work (and this shouldn’t come as much of a surprise considering his less-than-“Super” work that came before this), is the vision of director Zack Snyder. He gives the comic book fans plenty of va-va-voom with the franchise introductions of Wonder Woman and a handful of other cameos. And he creates colossal sequences filled with CGI, tons of explosions and ear-bending NOISE.
But – ultimately – the Batman/Superman “no-cage match” is underwhelming – granted it’s much more appetizing than anything that comes before it – and the finale that follows is so uninteresting that even the movie character version of Anderson Cooper (who does some play-by-play commentary of the battle) makes it clear he doesn’t care who wins – he just wants to get back to reporting serious news.
And that’s the thing about “BVS” – it’s difficult to take this superhero movie seriously because of the constant slow-motion moments, the goofy dialogue, laughable sound effects and melodrama overdose. And the pivotal moment of the entire story comes down to – well – let’s just say “It’s all in a name“. Sadly – this film is an Epic failure.
On The Official LCJ Report Card, “Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice” gets a D+.
Running Time: 151 min.